Etymologically
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étrange

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.tʁɑ̃ʒ/[1]

Forms

étrange (plural étranges)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French estrange, inherited from Latin extrāneus (“external; foreign”),[2][3][4][5] a derivative of extrā (“outside”).[3][6] Bloch and Wartburg compare the sound development of lange and linge.[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan estranh, Spanish extraño, Portuguese estranho and Italian strano.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) has estrange “foreign”;[2] the Chanson de Roland speaks of celle gent estrange, that foreign people.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “foreign” lasted into the classical period and even the 19th century (La Fontaine's nations étranges), and survives in some dialects;[3][4][6] by the late 17th century it was largely replaced by the derivative étranger (1369).[3] From about 1165 (Benoît de Sainte-Maure) it meant “out of the ordinary”, in classical French often “terrible, dreadful” (Corneille's l'étrange peine).[2][3][9] The modern sense “odd, peculiar”, by weakening, is in Molière's L'Avare (1668).[2][9]

L'étrange as a noun (19th century) also names a literary genre.[3] In particle physics étrange (1968) translates English strange, and étrangeté strangeness.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Estrange “foreign” in Saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1165 – “Extraordinary”, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2]
  • 1369 – The derivative étranger.[3]
  • Late 14th century – Étrangeté.[3]
  • 1668 – “Odd” in Molière.[2]
  • 1968 – Particule étrange.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Strange, odd, peculiar: un bruit étrange, c'est étrange.[9][10]
  2. (physics) Of a particle, having non-zero strangeness.[10][3]
  3. (obsolete) Foreign.[6][1]
  4. (classical) Dreadful, extreme.[9][8]

Noun

  1. L'étrange: the strange, the uncanny.[10][3]

Word family

  • étranger
  • étrangeté
  • étrangement

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 332a
  6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)